A Shopping Carol
by Amarielah
Summary: Ken and Daisuke go shopping for a Christmas party. Gen.


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Adventure 02.

A/N: Most of the dialogue in this fic is adapted from Ken and Daisuke Christmas duet song, "Daisuke and Ken's Shopping Carol", which is made of awesome and win. Check it out here: youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v=79kto1c_8Dw

The original Japanese lyrics and their translation can be found here: animelyrics (dot) com (slash) anime (slash) digi02 (slash) dtknkc (dot) htm

**A Shopping Carol**

_Christmas, 2003_

Daisuke was cold. Of course, this was to be expected. It was December, and all of his decent sweaters were still in the wash. The only remotely suitable garment he had left was a sweatshirt that was much too thin to provide any decent amount of warmth. But hey, none of this would have been a problem if the other Chosen Children had decided to cut him some slack for once.

No such luck.

He looked enviously to his right, where Ken was walking comfortably, bundled as he was in a cozy combination of his mother's home-knitted sweater and scarf. Daisuke hugged himself.

"It's cool that we're having a Christmas party and all," he said, rubbing his arms vigorously in an attempt to fight off the chill, "but why do I have to do all the last-minute shopping?"

Ken gave him a sidelong glance and raised an eyebrow.

Guiltily, Daisuke added, "Right, Ken - you too." Ken had also been roped into this, after all, even if he did have the proper clothing for the weather. Daisuke sighed. "This really sucks."

Ken smiled ruefully. "There's nothing we can really do about it," he said. "There are lots of other things that need to be done, so I guess they're trying to be efficient." More softly, he said, "Though we were probably their last resort."

Daisuke chose to ignore that last comment. The cold was really starting to get to him now, so he figured he'd be better off trying to be positive about it. "Anyway...Christmas is great, huh?"

Ken's smile widened slightly, catching on. "Yeah," he said.

Daisuke let go of his arms so that his gloveless fingers would be free. "There's a ton of good food," he said, ticking off the first finger.

"Uhuh," agreed Ken, fondly.

"And cake," added Daisuke, ticking off another finger.

"Yeah," said Ken, no less cheerfully. Although one of his eyebrows twitched a little.

"And you get presents."

This time, Ken was less enthusiastic. "Uh...huh."

"And school's on vacation."

Ken's eyebrow twitched again, but this time Daisuke knew it would happen. Ken was a freak who actually _liked _school. "Well..." began Ken.

But Daisuke cut him off with, "And New Years comes right after."

"Um..."

"Seriously, everything about Christmas is good. Wouldn't it be awesome if it were Christmas all the time?"

At that, Ken sighed. "What are you talking about, Daisuke?"

This reaction had Daisuke genuinely perplexed. "Huh?" he asked intelligently.

Ken took this as a cue to launch into one of his infamous lectures, which he'd probably been formulating since the second Daisuke had started on the subject of Christmas. "Christmas is one of the most important days of the year for a large percentage of the human population."

"Right..." said Daisuke, starting to rub his arms again.

"It's the day that the Savior in the Christian religion is said to have been born, so many people view it as an important spiritual event. For millions of people, Christmas is about going to church and praying to God."

"Wow," said Daisuke, with honest surprise. "That's actually pretty cool."

Ken gave him a crooked smile. "But you knew it already, right?"

Daisuke made a face. "'Course," he mumbled. It was funny how his face suddenly felt too hot. After another moment of walking in a comfortable silence, he recognized the bold lettering of the supermarket that they'd been looking for.

They walked inside, and Daisuke was glad to find that the store had employed the use of heaters. He sighed in gratitude, reaching into his pocket for the shopping list that had been handed to him by Miyako, and he and Ken got to work.

Tinsel, Christmas ornaments, a wreath, plastic cups, juice, candy, gift wrapping, disposable tablecloths and a number of other food items were quickly located, and after a about twenty minutes, Daisuke announced, "I think this is all of it."

Ken nodded. "It looks like it."

They paid at the counter and exited the supermarket, Daisuke pushing the shopping cart with a look of consternation on his face. "Geez, those guys asked for anything and everything."

Ken began to laugh, but stopped quickly when he took a good look at the pile of bags in the shopping cart. "There really is a lot," he said, frowning slightly.

"I know!" exclaimed Daisuke. He picked up one of the bags, which was filled with a number of different CD and DVD cases. "Who the hell put _software_ on the list? It doesn't have anything to do with the party!" He huffed. "Just what do they think we are, anyway?"

Ken was grasping his chin--a gesture that Daisuke had come to learn meant that he was thinking hard about something--and was gazing intently at their purchases. "This is really too much," he said. "Even when I take our physical strength into account..."

"You're right," agreed Daisuke.

Ken smiled suddenly, his eyes brightening. He turned his gaze to Daisuke. "Sorry to trouble you, but you're strong enough to carry this by yourself, right?"

Daisuke blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Ken continued to beam. "Great! Do your best, and try not to be late."

It took Daisuke a moment or two to realize that Ken was _walking away from him_. "What...? No! H-hey!" Ken continued to walk away. "Ichijouji!" Still, no response, and Daisuke decided to hurry after him, grabbing the bags from the shopping cart. "Yo! Wait up, Ken." Ken's pace was brisk, and Daisuke found his pursuit hampered by the heavy groceries.

A gust of freezing wind went through his sweatshirt like it was made of cheesecloth.

"Are you serious!" he yelled, shivering hard. "Why'd you even come, huh?!" Then, as a last-ditch effort at guilt-tripping, "It's Christmas!"

That made Ken stop and turn around. "You're right," he said, and Daisuke felt hope kindle in his chest. But Ken then smiled that over-cheerful smile, saying, "I wish you good health and happiness."

Daisuke deflated. "Oh come on, Ken." He summoned the strength to start walking again. "Just wait!"

"Oh yeah," called his friend. "It's heavy, so you should be careful."

"Don't just tell me to be careful, damn it! Help me!"

"They'll all be waiting for you, so don't worry."

Daisuke attempted to speed up, but stumbled over something on the sidewalk in the process. Between the effort to remain standing _and _keep all the groceries from falling to the ground, Daisuke managed to knock his knee hard again a lamppost. He cursed and yelled at the pain for a minute, then shouted, "Get back here already!" to Ken's ever-shrinking back.

Finally, he conceded defeat, even though the groceries were freaking heavy. He sighed. "Why I am always the one who gets these kinds of jobs?" A little bitterly: "Next time, I'll definitely bring Takeru instead." Another sigh. "I wish I had V-mon here."

Chibimon was probably still gorging himself on Christmas novelty snacks, the greedy bastard.

It was with this thought in mind that Daisuke began to trudge his way back to the house that Mimi's parents were letting them use for the party, but, after only a minute or so, he ran into Ken again. His friend was leaning against the glass of a boutique, _smirking_. "That was slow, Daisuke. You've been slacking on your training."

One of Daisuke's eyebrows twitched. "That was _not _funny," he growled.

Ken walked over and took some of the bags from Daisuke's arms. "Not at all," he said, now grinning.

"Dick move." Daisuke glared at him. "Seriously, Ken: Dick. Move."

Ken affected an expression of innocence. "I could have just let you carry on, you know. You probably could use the exercise."

"Yeah, you could've." They began to walk side-by-side. "But then you'd have gotten laxative in your eggnog."

Ken's eyes widened slightly in genuine horror. "You _wouldn't_," he said.

"I so would," replied Daisuke, though with less heat than before. "My arms are _burning _thanks to you."

"I could take a few more, if you'd like."

Daisuke couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. "I'm _fine._"

A sigh. "Alright." They continued walking in silence for a few minutes, before Ken asked, a little shyly, "Once we've dropped these off, do you want to help me find presents for my parents?"

Daisuke looked at his friend and smiled. "Sure, man. As long as you don't pull a stunt like this again."

Ken smiled back, apologetically. "So...you're not too angry?"

Under normal circumstances, Daisuke would have reached up to rub at his nose, but the heavy groceries served to inhibit the reflex. "Nah. I guess it was kinda funny...from the outside."

"It was," Ken admitted, then covered his mouth to muffle what was unmistakably a chuckle.

And yeah, thought Daisuke. It had been kinda funny.

It would also be kinda funny when Ken ended up on the toilet for an hour.

"Merry Christmas, Ken."

"You too, Daisuke."

Now, he'd just have to find a pharmacy while Ken wasn't looking...


End file.
